Selecting Spirit Souls, the Spirit Pagoda's Foundation

At first, Qian Jue thought Qiangu Dieyan was taking him to the Eastsea Spirit Pagoda to choose a spirit soul, since it was fairly close by.

But very soon, two red mechas arrived at the academy gates to receive them.

Eastsea Academy's entrance was already crowded with people since classes had just ended, and many children and parents witnessed the red mechas descending from the sky.

"Holy crap, is that the legendary god-class mecha? That's way too cool."

"Are they teachers from the academy? Since when did our Eastsea Academy become this impressive?"

A crowd of students and parents stood off to the side from a distance, admiring the heroic bearing of the red mechas.

Before long, Qiangu Dieyan walked out with Qian Jue.

"Greetings, old Pagoda Master. Greetings, Young Master Qian."

An electronic mechanical voice came from within the god-class mecha. Then the cockpit opened from the chest, and the figure of a middle-aged man appeared from inside the mecha.

The middle-aged man had a rugged appearance, with a hint of baleful aura between his brows. He did not look like an ordinary soul master.

He was probably a powerhouse belonging to some Federation corps. To think he had actually ended up under their Spirit Pagoda's control.

At that thought, Qian Jue felt the Federation was truly rather pitiful.

On the surface, it looked like the official power, but in reality, there were barely any of its own people under it. The nine great corps were either infiltrated by Shrek graduates, or filled with people from the Tang Sect or the Spirit Pagoda.

Or else they were controlled by great clans like Yue Zhengyu's family. Even the War God Hall, which on the surface belonged to the Federation, might not actually obey the Federation Speaker's commands at a critical moment.

Some Spring and Autumn, Warring States-style feudal system, some monopoly on violence that was anything but monopolized—it had all shown up. This Douluo Federation really was pathetic enough.

Qiangu Dieyan nodded slightly and pulled Qian Jue into the mecha.

With a thunderous boom, the god-class mecha soared into the air, traced a red arc across the horizon, then vanished into the dusk.

Shrek City, Spirit Pagoda headquarters.

Gazing at the academy hidden in the clouds and mist in the distance, Qian Jue's feelings were complicated.

He had not expected that after only a few months, he would return to this place of heartbreak.

"Did you think of some unpleasant experience?" Qiangu Dieyan asked when he saw the expression on Qian Jue's face.

"If it's that fellow Long Yeyue, then you don't need to care about her now." Qiangu Dieyan thought of the matter his eldest son had mentioned last time, and his mood brightened considerably. "That lunatic Long Yeyue secretly slipped out of Shrek City last time, only to be ambushed by an unknown powerhouse. Your grandfather saw the opportunity was good, so he went up and beat her hard too."

Hearing this, Qian Jue was also very curious.

Just what great figure had Long Yeyue provoked this time? She could not even leave the city without someone throwing a sack over her head and clubbing her in the dark.

Although in the original work, because Long Yeyue had always been running away and never had any record of facing a powerhouse of the same level head-on, she was given the name Dragon Runner.

But no matter what, she was still a veteran demigod-level Limit Douluo. Her strength could place in the top twenty of the entire Douluo Federation, yet she had actually been beaten up.

"She didn't go looking for trouble with Grandfather and those mysterious people?"

Qiangu Dieting smiled and continued, "According to your grandfather, the mysterious person who struck first was very strong and blocked Long Yeyue's five senses for a short time."

"With her temperament, she's only good at bullying the weak while fearing the strong. She secretly slipped out to make trouble, only to get beaten up. After losing face like that, would she still have the nerve to ask Yun Ming to back her up?"

Qiangu Dieyan clearly had no favorable expression when it came to Long Yeyue.

That was only natural. Who told the other party to completely disregard the relationship between their two factions and come up to slap him, the Spirit Pagoda's Pagoda Master at the time, across the face?

The apology afterward had also been arranged through Heavenly Favored Douluo's mediation, and the Spirit Pagoda had even paid some price before Long Yeyue finally, reluctantly, said sorry.

Qiangu Dieyan had been remembering this grudge all along.

Along the way, Qian Jue continued to remain silent, thinking about what kind of spirit soul he should add to his Coiling Dragon Staff.

Right now, his spiritual power was close to 600 points. He was also Heavenly Phoenix Douluo's personal disciple and the successor the Spirit Pagoda Master had designated for cultivation. It could be said that the countless spirit souls treasured in the Spirit Pagoda headquarters were his to choose from.

The first spirit soul could be said to be the foundation of a soul master's martial soul.

Not everyone was like Tang Wulin, who had the Golden Dragon King bloodline as his safety net. A defective little grass snake had ultimately become a true dragon, directly achieving a complete reversal of its beastly life.

Qian Jue sank his mind and carefully sensed the Coiling Dragon Staff martial soul inside him.

The mutation at the start of his awakening had made his Coiling Dragon Staff clearly different from those of the other members of the Qiangu clan. At the very least, in terms of quality, it absolutely did not lose to his second martial soul, the Dragon Rising Pillar.

As his main offensive martial soul, he did not need the highest cultivation level, only the best compatibility.

After all, things now were different from tens of thousands of years ago. The age of soul rings could only be changed by those who took part in divine trials back then.

His maternal grandfather beside him had nine one-hundred-thousand-year soul rings.

Of course, it was not that Qiangu Dieyan's first spirit soul had been one hundred thousand years old from the start. Naturally, it had been raised step by step over time using the Spirit Pagoda's resources and the Spirit Ascension Platform.

This Soul Tool elevator led straight to the underground area of the Spirit Pagoda headquarters. After they got on, a full minute and a half passed before they reached the destination of this trip.

The underground space was a spacious hall. Dozens of staff members bustled about, scheduling spirit souls for the major Spirit Pagoda branches. On the other side of the hall were passageways built from rare metals, and at every passage entrance stood high-level soul masters with powerful auras guarding them.

Besides that, Qian Jue also keenly sensed that the hall was densely packed with many defensive Soul Tools, and there were even defensive soul tool arrays. He just did not know what level of Soul Tools they were.

But judging from the Spirit Pagoda's foundation, they had to be at least ninth-level to be worthy of this place.

Qian Jue looked at the large screen in front of him, where many spirit souls were being scheduled from headquarters through various means to every branch tower on Douluo Planet. Only then did he truly sense just how deep the Spirit Pagoda's foundation was.

Yes, Soul Masters were the true foundation of Douluo Planet.

The development of Soul Tools had indeed narrowed the gap between ordinary people and average Soul Masters, but high-ranking Soul Masters remained the rulers of this planet.

To control the Spirit Pagoda, which held the Spirit Souls required for Soul Masters to advance, was equivalent to controlling the lifelines of the vast majority of Soul Masters under heaven.

That was why Qiangu Dongfeng's ambition had swollen, leading him to attempt to seize control of the Federation and then take the next step of conquering all of Douluo Planet.

By the time he came back to his senses, Qiangu Dieyan had already brought him to a blood-red corridor.

When the surrounding Soul Masters and staff saw the grandfather and grandson, not a single person stepped forward to question or stop them.

As the former Pagoda Master and one of the current quasi-gods, Qiangu Dieyan's face was the best pass there was.

"Go. These are my grandson's various records. Pick out a few suitable Spirit Souls for us to look at." Qiangu Dieyan took out a form, and on it were precisely the physical data Wu Zhangkong had recorded for him some days ago.

After taking the file, the staff member quickly arrived in front of a display screen. Following a burst of operations, Spirit Souls were taken out of the virtual world one after another and placed before Qian Jue.

"They're starting with the Tang family gift pack..."

His recent classes had not been for nothing. Qian Jue recognized the species of the first two soul beasts at a glance, and the corner of his mouth could not help twitching.

Titan Giant Ape, one thousand four hundred years; Sky Azure Bull Python, one thousand five hundred years.

He was far too familiar with these two soul beasts. Weren't they Xiao Wu's mother's family?

Putting the latter aside for now, the former was considered a legendary species even within the soul beast world. It had no obvious shortcomings, and its attack, defense, and endurance were all first-rate.

Qiangu Dieyan looked toward Qian Jue. In the end, what kind of Spirit Soul to choose still depended on him.

"Change the batch." Without hesitation, Qian Jue made his decision directly.

The staff continued operating the system, and many more Spirit Souls appeared before Qian Jue one after another.

Eight-hundred-year Thorn Dragon, dragon bloodline, spatial attribute.

One-thousand-two-hundred-year Iron-Skinned Earth Dragon King, body like steel, unyielding and tenacious.

One-thousand-five-hundred-year Golden Dragon, ancestor of strength, true dragon bloodline...

Very soon, after going through the list, Qian Jue had already given up on a full sixty or seventy types of Spirit Souls. If these Spirit Souls had been placed outside, they would definitely have drawn a crowd to fight over them.

In the end, the staff member even brought out a Radiant Sacred Dragon Spirit Soul!

This was a Radiant Sacred Dragon that the Spirit Pagoda had spent countless manpower and effort on, excavating ancient biological remains and using all kinds of methods to revive it through the special nature of the Spirit Ascension Platform.

But Qian Jue was still dissatisfied.

No—perhaps it should be said that his Martial Soul was dissatisfied.

It seemed these inferior dragon races were unworthy of being attached to the Coiling Dragon Staff. This was the dragon soul's subconscious resistance and feedback.

Could it be that if his Coiling Dragon Staff wanted to attach a Spirit Soul, he would have to make a trip to Dragon Valley?